Event type: Music

Radical Joy Cabaret

Join us for a riotous evening to find celebration even in the darkest of times.

Joy can be a radical act of resistance in this time of austerity. Come along to find out how we can use joy to mobilise and fight back.

Performed by Collective Encounters’ Adult Theatre for Social Change group, the cabaret will weave a story of radical joy through songs, sketches and scenes, and will reflect on the world through the lens of our assets, not our deficits.

The Brink, Parr Street, L1 4JN: Saturday 23 May, 7pm

Tickets: pay what you can

Bonnie Trash

Bonnie Trash is the project of twin sisters Emmalia and Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor, wedding post-punk’s steeley-eyed austerity to goth rock’s brooding grandeur. Rather than fashioning nightmares into reality, the band paints reality as a nightmare; rife with pain, suffering, and gothic theatre. Like their forebears Joy Division, Black Sabbath, or John Carpenter, Bonnie Trash understands that everyday atrocities haunt the periphery of our lives. A black cloud looming on the edge of our vision. Curses abound. You can’t ward them off. You’d best make an unholy racket. Where their first full length, Malocchio (2022), shrouded Bonnie Trash’s nightmares in dusky dreamlike reverb, Mourning You (2025) is vivid and immediate. Mourning You is less a post-mortem fantasia than a sudden, swift dagger to the heart. This is sorrow not as a lingering bruise, but a gushing wound. Bonnie Trash has performed at renowned festivals across Canada, and has shared the stage with TRAITRS, Chastity, Dilly Dally, Bria Salmena, and The OBGMs. In 2025, they embarked on their first UK and USA tour, and played to a sold-out crowd at Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. They have been featured in Guitar World, Metal Hammer, Classic Rock Magazine, Exclaim!, BrooklynVegan, and The Line of Best Fit.

Some Guys Have All The Luck: The Rod Stewart Story

Celebrating 10 years of swagger, showmanship and jam-packed energy – Some Guys Have All The Luck – The Rod Stewart Story is back for 2027! 

 Direct from the West End and officially endorsed by Rod Stewart’s own family, this electrifying live concert charts an unforgettable six-decade journey from humble beginnings to global superstardom. Fronted by the talented Paul Metcalfe, the show delivers Rod’s unmistakable sound with a sensational live band, authentic costumes and high-octane vocals that brings every era to life. 

 Audiences will be on their feet dancing to smash-hits including ‘Maggie May’, ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’, ‘Baby Jane’, ‘Sailing’, ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’, ‘Tonight’s The Night’, ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You’ and many more.   

Don’t miss your chance to relive the soundtrack of a generation in an unforgettable night of rock ‘n’ roll perfection.   

Unmissable. Unstoppable. Utterly iconic.  

 

WoWFEST: A Reason to Sing – The Popular Song Movement of 70s Chile

Join internationally acclaimed artist Francisco Carrasco for a powerful and deeply personal exploration of Nueva Canción Chilena, Chile’s revolutionary popular song movement of the 1960s and 70s. 

Blending traditional folk forms with urgent, socially conscious lyrics, Nueva Canción became the soundtrack of resistance. Artists including Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara, Inti-Illimani and Quilapayún gave voice to workers, challenged injustice and helped shape the cultural spirit of Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government. 

After the 1973 military coup, many musicians were silenced, imprisoned or forced into exile — transforming the movement into a global symbol of resistance and solidarity. 

Arriving in the UK as a child refugee in 1975, Francisco Carrasco brings this history vividly to life through storytelling, live music and archival material. He reflects on how these songs sustained displaced communities including his own family who performed at solidarity events across Britain. 

Part cultural history, part lived testimony, this event is an invitation to explore exile, identity and the enduring power of music in times of struggle. 

Francisco Carrasco MA FRSA is a Chilean-born international artist, storyteller, world musician and cultural activist. Exiled to the UK in 1975, he has dedicated his life to using art as a platform for dialogue and social change. 

Based in Liverpool since 1983, he is the founder and Creative Director of LUMA CREATIONS and has led major cultural initiatives including LA FERIA International Festival of Latin American Arts & Culture and the Merseyside International Street Festival. 

In 2025, he received the LCR Award for International Reach. His forthcoming poetry collection, Oceans of Exile, continues his exploration of displacement, resilience and belonging. 

Date: Tuesday 19th MayTime: 6.30pmVenue: Victoria Gallery and Museum: Ashton Street, Liverpool, L69 3DRTickets: £5

Outer Waves Festival 2026

Liverpool’s underground music and arts festival OUTER WAVES is returning to Liverpool’s North Docks at Invisible Wind Factory and Make CIC on May 23rd & 24th 2026!  Dedicated to experimental, avant-garde, and underground music from across the world, the festival platforms international artists alongside commissioned local talent, with an integrated visual art programme and a programme of events extending beyond the main stages including workshops, artist interviews & panel discussions.

HeadlinersHeadlining the festival are ØXN (feat. Radie Peat of Lankum) and Dame Area, joined by Jarboe (Swans) feat. Thor Harris and Joy Von Spain and the world premiere of HAND TO MOUTH TO — a newly reimagined live performance commissioned by Outlands Network and Full of Noises, collaboratively composed and performed by Keeley Forsyth and long-time collaborator Matthew Bourne.

Final Lineup AdditionsThe final wave of artists joining the bill includes HHY & the Kampala Unit, Elspeth Anne, a Lesser Version, Those Holy feat. Ly Nguyěn, Jacques Malchance, and veve, joining a bill that already includes the incendiary ritual electronics of Lord Spikeheart, the Okinawan-Jamaican dub and traditional fusion of Waq Waq Kingdom, and much more besides.The festival also presents specially commissioned new works from local artists Coby Obi, S. Fearon, Quieting (in partnership with Music Futures), and Tomas Edgar (Dada Fest). The weekend will also feature panel talks, workshops, and afterparties.

Visual Art ProgrammeComplementing the music programme, OUTER WAVES 2026 features an expansive visual art programme transforming the spaces of the North Docks. Works will be presented by Kromavision, Sam Wiehl, Freddy Francke, Jasmine Murphy, and more, bringing immersive and site-specific installations that extend the festival’s sensory world beyond the stage.An International FestivalWith artists travelling from across Europe, Africa, Asia, and beyond, OUTER WAVES 2026 is a truly international gathering. The festival’s lineup reflects a genuinely global underground, connecting Liverpool’s North Docks to experimental and avant-garde communities worldwide. Alongside the music and visual art, the festival will present panel talks, workshops, and afterparties across the weekend.

Full Line UpØXN (feat. Radie Peat of Lankum)Dame AreaJarboe (Swans) feat. Thor Harris and Joy Von SpainKeeley Forsyth & Matthew Bourne present HAND TO MOUTH TOHHY & the Kampala UnitElspeth Annea Lesser VersionJacques MalchanceveveLord SpikeheartWaq Waq Kingdoma.P.a.t.TCarmel SmickersgillDale De Saint Paul & Mariam RezaeiDomestic PartnersE the Artist (Nyahh Records)GermanagerGY!PAHAALHedgling (Nyahh Records)HaressKarl D’SilvaLuce MawdsleyMincemeatMohammad Syfkhan (Nyahh Records)MugstarUltan O’Brien (Nyahh Records)Coby Obi *S. Fearon *Quieting *Those Holy feat. Ly Nguyěn *Tomas Edgar (Dada Fest) ** Commissioned local artist

 

Ranjana Ghatak presents – Songs of the Luminous Heart

Featuring voice, esraj, harp and tabla, a luminous meeting of Indian and European classical and folk traditions, Songs of the Luminous Heart brings together four exceptional artists in a richly textured, genre-defying collaboration.

Drawing on the emotive vocal forms of thumri and bhajan, alongside the mystical writings of Mirabai and Hildegard of Bingen, Indian vocalist Ranjana Ghatak explores shared spiritual and musical threads across cultures. She is joined by Céline Saout (harp), Kirpal Singh Panesar (esraj) and Harkiret Singh Bahra (tabla), whose sensitive interplay weaves classical, semi-classical and original compositions with improvisation and intricate rhythm.

Following an acclaimed performance at St George’s Festival of the Voice—described by audiences as “enthralling, stimulating, sublime”—this concert offers a rare and deeply moving musical experience.

Shane Embury of Napalm Death in Conversation

Napalm Death’s longest standing member, Shane Embury, comes to Future Yard off the back of the release of his book release ‘Life?… and Napalm Death’. The bassist has been a major figure in the grindcore music scene for more than four decades, Life?… And Napalm Death takes readers on a front seat journey of his story and the history of the scene. This is not just his story, but a history of Napalm Death and grindcore’s development from the beginning to the present. 

Napalm Death’s Shane Embury reflects on 40 years of noise terrorism in conversation with journalist Joel McIver, sharing stories from his unique life in and out of the band, reflecting on the community that has grown up around them and the political values that are central to their music. Shane will be signing copies of his illustrated memoir ‘Life? And Napalm Death’, published by Rocket 88 after the show.

There will be a chance to ask your own questions.

This show will feature an in conversation with Shane Embury about the book with a signing afterwards.

STAGE LEFT

Created in-house at the Unity, this new performance dives into the theatre’s bold and rebellious past. From its roots as Merseyside Left Theatre in the 1930s to the vibrant creative home we inhabit today, A Radical Reimagining brings decades of radical storytelling roaring back to life.

Through dynamic performance, powerful voices, and striking moments from the past, we celebrate a legacy of theatre made for the people. Expect a journey through protest, passion, and creativity, a reminder that this stage has always belonged to those with something to say.

Part of Unity’s Heritage Lottery Funded project.  

Political Songs Workshop | Sing, March, Protest with Patrick Dineen

Come along and experience the political songs that the Unity Theatre would have performed, written and experienced over the years from the Spanish Civil War to the 1960s. 

From rousing marching songs through to sophisticated cabaret. Listen and sing the wit and irony, dark humour of songs that speak of injustice and corruption.

Patrick Dineen is a composer and lyricist. He has written many scores for theatre and political cabaret over the years and has had a long standing relationship with The Unity Theatre. His work as a composer includes tv, film, dance, cabaret and directing his own music-theatre shows.

LAAF 2026 presents Tamsin Elliott & Tarek Elazhary

Liverpool Arab Arts Festival presents the world premiere performance of the hugely anticipated second album from Tamsin Elliott (UK) and Tarek Elazhary (Egypt).

The album, currently untitled, is scheduled for release in September 2026. Together, Tamsin and Tarek explore the intriguing parallels and idiosyncrasies of Egyptian Maqam and English folk traditions in a captivating fusion of songs, tunes and textures, finding commonality, fostering cross-cultural connection and helping heal the scars of a colonial past through meaningful and conscious collaboration. 

Tamsin Elliott is a Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and filmmaker working primarily with English folk traditions, equally adept on fiddle, lever harp, and microtonal accordion. Alongside solo projects, she leads the genre-crossing ensembles Solana and Hedera,  and collaborates widely across folk and experimental music contexts.

Tarek Elazhary is an Egyptian composer, educator and oud player whose work centres on Arab musical traditions. Through performance, teaching and composition, he explores how these traditions can be sustained and developed in contemporary settings. He is the founder and leader of the ensemble Dokkan. 

For this Liverpool premiere, the string quartet will be the Ensemble of St Lukes, founded 34 years ago by members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The Ensemble give regular chamber recitals of western classical repertoire at the Music Room, and have previously collaborated with LAAF in 2023 on a performance with Syrian qanunist and composer Maya Youssef.